EFFECTS OF WATER SALINITY AND EGYPTIAN CLOVER AMENDED SUBSTRATES ON TOMATO TRANSPLANT PRODUCTION
2018
A. Abu-Elela | K. Farrag | U. El-Behairy | M. Abdallah
This study was conducted to evaluate the growth of tomato transplants irrigated with saline water in a commercial soilless potting media amended with fermented clover produced by anaerobic fermentation of a mixture of clover and water for different periods (1, 2 and 3 weeks). Treatments were distributed in completely randomized factorial design included three salinity levels in irrigation water (260, 1000 and 2000 mg l-1) without and with fermented clover corresponding to 0, 10, 20 and 30% of the substrate (1peat: 1perlite: 1vermiculite) by volume. Plant height (cm), number of leaves, vegetative fresh and dry weights (g) per plant were recorded 35 days after sowing. The obtained results showed that the mean values of the aforementioned parameters were increased due to the incorporation of clover-based amendment with higher pronounced effect recorded for fermented clover as compared to non-fermented clover. The highest values were obtained due to the incorporation of three weeks fermented clover at 20% mixing percentage followed by 30%. There were significant differences among water salinity treatments; fresh water (260 mg l-1) recorded the highest vegetative growth of tomato transplants. Furthermore, fermented clover alleviated the salt stress on transplants and increased the growth parameters under saline water irrigation. These results suggested that clover can be used for producing organic tomato transplants, instead of imported media, supporting by fermentation to enhance the ability of clover to supplement the transplants with the nutrient needs and cope the salinity condition.
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